Victoria, British Columbia · October 2025
Six months of helping the “bank investigators”, and $1.7 million gone
Lost almost $1.7 million
In June 2024, Ray’s call display showed his bank’s name. The caller, from its “fraud department”, asked Ray, 89, to help with a money-laundering investigation: withdraw cash, hand it to a courier to be kept for him, and tell no one.
“They said, ‘We want to make sure that you don’t lose your life savings,’… So I went along with it.”
A branch manager froze his online and bank-machine access, but he could still withdraw in person. The scammers had him move everything to another bank, which issued drafts of $50,000 to $395,000 for gold, picked up by courier. No teller asked.
Then a fake chief justice demanded a tax debt. Ray phoned his daughter Jill to ask for a loan, and she saw what was happening. Over six months he had lost almost $1.7 million. “He and his generation, they believe in authority,” Jill said.
CBC News, 27 October 2025. “Two banks allow 89-year-old to drain life savings, lose $1.7M to scammers”
a hold the bank stops one payment while somebody asks a question
A bank or an investment firm can pause a single withdrawal, transfer or trade rather than let it go through. The institution places it, not you, and it is temporary. It does not close the account or touch the rest of the money.
Step by step, and what stops each one
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Stage 01
Call display showing his bank’s name.
What stops it here
Call display can be made to show any name, your bank’s included. Hang up and ring the bank yourself, using the number printed on your card.
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Stage 02
A money-laundering investigation, and he was needed.
What stops it here
No bank or police force asks a customer to help catch a criminal with their own money. Before you agree to anything, phone the one person you settled on beforehand.
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Stage 04
Withdraw cash, hand it to a courier, and tell no one.
What stops it here
“Tell no one” is the instruction that kept this going for six months. The first person you tell ends it.
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Stage 05
Bank drafts of up to $395,000, picked up by courier.
What stops it here
Ask your bank now to put a hold on large withdrawals and drafts, and to call someone you name before they go through. A frozen online account did not stop the counter.
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It stopped here
Stage 06
A fake chief justice, and a tax debt.
He asked his daughter for a loan, and she saw it.
What stops it here
A new official with a new demand is the same scam, raising the stakes. Ask about this payment only, and ask somebody outside it.